He was a Private in Col. Jeduthan Baldwin's Artillery Artificer Regiment, 25th August, 1777; Sergeant, 8th January, 1779; Captain, 24th November, 1779; retired March, 1781. in the Revolutionary War between 1777 and 1781. John Shepard enlisted in the army at Newburgh, New York, in the Spring of 1777, in Capt. James Young's Company, U.S. Quartermaster Department, and remained under Capt. Young until the Spring of 1778, when by command of Col. Udney Hay he took command of the company, and in the Fall of 1779 was annexed to Col. Jeduthan Baldwin's Regiment. He was in the Battle of Stoney Point. He was commissioned Captain by the Board of War and remained in charge of it until the Fall of 1781, when he was furloughed on account of ill health and, not recovering, was discharged. He became a Presbyterian clergyman, was a classical scholar, and his death was lamented at Cicero [NY], where he died. In 1818 he applied for a pension from Onondaga County, N. Y.
*****
The National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution Volume 31, page 28:
. . . Capt. John Shepard . . . served as captain in Col. Elisha Porter's regiment of Massachusetts militia. He was born in Massachusetts [ERROR; THIS IS THE WRONG JOHN SHEPARD]; died in Brewerton, N. Y.
PBVB Note: There appears to be some confusion between a Massachusetts Capt. John Shepard and "our" New York John Shepard who died in Brewerton, NY.
The Generations Network, Inc., 1997. Original data: Heitman, Francis B., Historical Register of Officers of the Continental Army During the War of the Revolution. Washington, DC: The Rare Book Shop Pub. Co., 1914.
*****
The National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution Volume 64, page 228
Mrs. Maud M. Sanders Tyler.
DAR ID Number: 63689
Descendant of . . . Capt. John Shepard (1756-1824) enlisted at Newburg, N. Y., 1777, and, 1779, commanded a company in [Col. Jeduthan] Baldwin's regiment of artificers. In 1781 was furloughed on account of ill health.
*****
NEW YORK IN THE REVOLUTION AS COLONY AND STATE
http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?rank=1&gsfn=john&gsln=shepard&gskw=orange&prox=1&db=nyrev&ti=0&ti.si=0&gl=&gss=mp-nyrev&gst=&so=3H
eading: Orange County Militia -- Fourth Regiment [This is the same regiment in which his brother Collville Shepard also served.]
Rank: Enlisted Men
Name:
John Shepard
****
Alphabetical List of Officers of the Continental Army, S, Fifteenth Virginia, page 493: Shepard, John (N. Y.). Private of Baldwin's Artillery Artificer Regiment, 25th August, 1777; Sergeant, 8th January, 1779; Captain, 24th November, 1779; retired — March, 1781.
.
11,12,13,14,15 Capt./Rev. John Shepard lived between 1782 and 1792 in Stamford, Fairfield County, Connecticut. Several deeds describe him as of Stamford [CT] as late as 1796, and in some he is styled "Reverend". After leaving Stamford, he lived in Orange County, New York, which was partly peopled from that part of Weschester which Stamford claimed.
Capt./Rev. John Shepard was ordained a minister of the Congregational Church in North Stamford, Fairfield County, Connecticut, on 27 June 1787, and was dismissed 11 June 1794. Because of his service in the Revolutionary War, he was known as "the fighting parson." from 27 June 1787 to 11 June 1794.
16 He bought land in Stamford, CT, on 26 December 1788, 1 May 1789, and 10 February 1792. He sold land on 19 September 1794 and 1 April 1796, still described in the deed as being from Stamford.
11 Capt./Rev. John Shepard and
Millicent Shepard appeared on the census of 1790 in Stamford, Fairfield County, Connecticut, which lists two free white males under 16 years [David Edsall Shepard and ??], one white male 16 and over [Rev. John Shepard] and four free white females [Millicent Edsall Shepard and daughters Sophia, Sarah Isabella and ???] , also one slave.
17,11 Capt./Rev. John Shepard was a Prebyterian mininister in Onondaga County, New York. The earliest records available trace the roots of Protestant preaching in this area to two Presbyterians,
Rev. John Shepard and Deacon George Ramsey, beginning in the late 1700's. Preaching was conducted near the Fort Brewerton embankment. Deacon Ramsey built a schoolhouse nearby which was used for both instruction and worship. In 1810, New York State Governor DeWitt Clinton visited Brewerton and was told
John Shepard was the only preacher in the area.
18 On 14 April 1800, John Shepard was described as being from Warwick, [Orange County], New York, when he and his wife Millicent sold land there.
16 Capt./Rev. John Shepard and Millicent Shepard appeared on the census of 4 August 1800 in Warwick, Orange County, New York, which lists :
Free White Persons - Males - Under 10: 3 [Samuel Rockwell, 9, Amzi B., 7, and William Finn, 3]
Free White Persons - Males -10 thru 15: 1 [David Edsall, 11]
Free White Persons - Males - 26 thru 44: 1 J[ohn Shepard, 43]
Free White Persons - Females - Under 10: 1 [Hannah, 4]
Free White Persons - Females - 10 thru 15: 1 Sarah Isabella, 14]
Free White Persons - Females - 16 thru 25: 1 [Sophia, 16]
Free White Persons - Females - 26 thru 44: 1 Millicent, about 45]
Number of Household Members Under 16 : 6 [Samuel Rockwell, 9, Amzi B., 7, William Finn, 3, Hannah, 4, Sarah Isabella, 14, and Sophia, 16]
Number of Household Members Over 25 : 2 [John & Millicent (Edsall) Shepard
Number of Household Members: 9.
19 Captain John Shepard, who served in the Revolutionary war, drew Lot No. 11, of the township of Cicero, lying on the lake shore east of Brewerton. At an early day he took possession of his lot, sold part, cleared and cultivated the rest, and with his family lived upon it till his death, in 1824 [sic]. He was the only man who occupied a lot in this town [Cicero] for which he served. He was the first Justice of the Peace in the town in 1804.
In or shortly after 1800,
John Shepard settled in Cicero, Onondaga County, New York, where on 16 September 1802 he was granted a military lot for his Revolutionary War service. He was Justice of the Peace there as early as 1804.
Captain John Shepard, who served in the Revolutionary war, drew lot number eleven, Cicero, lying at the outlet of Oneida Lake. At an early day he took possession of his lot, sold a part of it, cleared and cultivated the residue, and with his family, lived happily upon it many years, till his death, in 1824 [sic, actually 1822]. After the war, he became a Presbyterian preacher, and officiated as such during a great part of his residence here. He was the only man who occupied a lot in this town for which he served. It has been related to the author by several capable of judging, that he was a superior Latin and Greek scholar, and excelled in the classical literature of the ancients. He was a most excellent man, and his death was much lamented by all who knew him.
http://www.rootsweb.com/~nyononda/CICERO/clarkhistory.html.
11
Bounty Lands in the Military Tract in Post-Revolutionary War New York State
Marian S. Henry
http://www.newenglandancestors.org/research/services/articles_bounty_lands_military_tract.asp
* * *
John ShepardSimilarly, in the town of Cicero [Onondaga County, New York], the only man who occupied his own bounty land was
John Shepard. He was the first Justice of the Peace in the town in 1804.[11]
According to Rev W. M. Beuchamp’s
Revolutionary Soldiers Resident or Dying in Onondaga Co., N.Y.,[12]
Captain John Shepard enlisted in 1777 in Capt. James Young’s Co. He left the army in the fall of 1781 from ill health and did not serve again. Beuchamp also claims a strong tie with Stamford, Connecticut, saying, “He was ordained in North Stamford Congregational church, Conn., June 27, 1787, and was dismissed June 11, 1794. Several deeds describe him as of Stamford as late as ’96, and in some he is styled “Reverend.” On June 7, 1783, he married Mrs. Melisent [sic, actually Millicent] Edsall, widow of Nehemiah Finor [sic, actually Finn], by whom he had four children. After leaving Stamford he lived in Orange Co., N. Y., which was partly peopled from that part of Westchester which Stamford claimed.”
Beuchamp also lists the following cemetery inscriptions:
Rev. John Shepard, / Born / May 25, / 1757. / Died Jan 29, 1822
Soldier of the Cross. / Well done, Rest from / thy loved employ.
Millicent Edsall / Wife of /
Rev. John Shepard / Died Nov. 12, 1805 / Aged 50 years
Beuchamp may be mistaken. Consider the following:
A collection of biographies of Stamford’s Revolutionary War soldiers[13] does
not contain an entry for John Shepard/Shepherd.
The only
Captain John Shepard listed in White’s index[14] served from Massachusetts. The entry reads: “Shepard, John, srv as Capt in Porter’s Regt of MA Mil.”
The Pension List of 1820[15] contains the following entry: “John Shepard, captain, Massachusetts.”
However, service for New York State is a requirement for obtaining the bounty land. Of the fourteen “John Shepard” entries in White,[16] there is one for a New York regiment: “Shepard, John, srv as Pvt in Hasbrouck’s Regt of NY Mil.”
The index[17] of Revolutionary War pension applications contains the following entry: “
Shepard, John, Cont., N.Y., S42292.”
Patricia Law Hatcher confirms the burial place in her
Abstract of Graves of Revolutionary Patriots: “
Shepard, John, Shepard Point, Oneida Lake, nr Syracuse, Bremerton NY”.[18]
* * *
PBVB Note: John Shepard apparently lived in Orange County, New York, prior to and during his Revolutionary War service; he evidently did not move to Stamford, Connecticut, until sometime before 1873 when he married Millicent Edsall Finn there. Therefore, it is not surprising that he is not listed among Stamford's soldiers in the Revolution.
-------------------------
[11]
History of Onondaga County, New York , W.W. Clayton, Syracuse, N. Y. 1878, p. 338
[12]
Revolutionary Soldiers Resident or Dying in Onondaga County, N.Y. with Supplementary List of Possible Veterans Based on a Pension List of Franklin H. Chase, Syracuse, N. Y ., Rev. W. M. Beauchamp, Publications of the Onondaga Historical Association, Vol. I, No. 2, April 1912, MCMXIII, Syracuse, N. Y., p. 18-19.
[13]
Stamford’s Soldiers, Genealogical Biographies of Revolutionary War Patriots from Stamford, Connecticut , Compiled by Edith M. Wicks and Virginia H. Olson, Ed. Paul W. Prindl, Stamford Genealogical Society, 1976
[14]
Index to Revolutionary War Service Records , transcribed by Virgil D. White, The National Historical Publishing Company, 1995, Vol IV, p. 2442.
[15] The Pension List of 1820, Washington, 1820, New York, p. 451.
[16] White, op. cit. Vol IV, p. 2442.
[17]
Index of Revolutionary War Pension Applications in the National Archives , Special Publication N. 40, National Genealogical Society, Washington, D. C., 1976, p. 504.
[18]
Abstract of Graves of Revolutionary Patriots , Patricia Law Hatcher, Pioneer Heritage Press, Dallas, 1987, Vol 4, p. 27.
CICERO PAST, By Lona Flynn, Town Historian The original township of Cicero, New York, named after the great Roman orator Marcus Tullius Cicero, included both the towns of Cicero and Clay. It was part of the great military tract that was surveyed in 1790 into 100 lots, each containing about 600 acres. These lots were reserved or drawn by soldiers for services in the Revolutionary War. The only soldier to become a resident in the town of Cicero was
Captain John Shepard. [http://www.ciceronewyork.com/Local_History/history.htm]
*****
[Capt./Rev. John Shepard] drew Revolutionary lot No. 11 located just east of Brewerton, New York.
His wife, Millicent, died on 12 November 1805 in Cicero, Onondaga County, New York, at age ~50, leaving him a widower.
7,20,21,22 Capt./Rev. John Shepard and
Sally Shepard appeared on the census of 6 August 1810 in Cicero, Onondaga County, New York, which lists:
Free White Persons - Males - 10 thru 15: 2 [William Finn, 13, and ??]
Free White Persons - Males - 16 thru 25: 3 [David Edsall, 21, Samuel Rockwell, 19, and Amzi B., 17]
Free White Persons - Males - 45 and over: 1 [John Shepard, 53]
Free White Persons - Females - Under 10: 1 [???]
Free White Persons - Females - 10 thru 15: 1 [Hannah, 14]
Free White Persons - Females - 45 and over: 1 [Sally (Berchard) Shepard, 49]
Number of Household Members Under 16 : 4 [Amzi, 16, Hannah, 14, William Finn, 13, and ??]
Number of Household Members Over 25 : 2 [John Shepard, 53, and Sally (Berchard) Shepard, 49]
Number of Household Members: 9.
23 On 13 June 1818, at age 62 he applied for a Revolutionary War pension at Cicero, Onondaga County, New York. On 27 February 1821, he stated that he owned no real estate and that his family consisted only himself and his [second] wife [Sally], aged 60.
11 Capt./Rev. John Shepard and Sally Shepard appeared on the census of 7 August 1820 in Macellus, Onondaga County, New York, which lists:
Free White Persons - Males - Under 10: 4
Free White Persons - Males - 10 thru 15: 2
Free White Persons - Males - 45 and over: 1 [John Shepard, 63]
Free White Persons - Females - 10 thru 15: 2
Free White Persons - Females - 16 thru 25: 1
Free White Persons - Females - 26 thru 44: 1
Free White Persons - Under 16: 8
Free White Persons - Over 25: 2
Total Free White Persons: 11
Total All Persons - White, Slaves, Colored, Other: 11.
24 ======================
ADDITIONAL INFORRMATION. We have the following fragmentary letter, written on behalf of the heirs of Captain John Shepard in 1859 by his son-in-law Myron Stevens (wife of Rev. John Shepard's daughter Sarah (or "Sally") Isabella Shepard Stevens), seeking certain benefits for his service in the Revolutionary War:
Antioch, Lake County, Ill. Febr. the 28 [18]59
To E. N________, Esq.
I have recently received a letter from B______ enclosing a copy of one from you dated Nov. the 2nd, [18]58, in which you ask for information on different subjects to substantiate the claims of the heirs of Capt. John Shepard of the war of the revolution to Commutation Pay & Land ___. I will answer some of them. If widows _____ Just in your hand all the papers relative to the case you will find four or five Affidavits made when Capt. Shepard _____ applied to the Legislature of the State of New York for Land for Revolutionary services which proves his service to the close of the war & likewise a Transcript of the Law granting him four lots of Land. Although these Affidavits were made for that purpose, they prove clearly that he was in the service??? to the close of the war. (2) He applied & obtained a pension under the first Act of Congress ($20 per month) he proved his service by two or three living witnesses at the time he applied for his pension & I presume you can obtain those ____ papers by applying at the pension office. (3) His widow [Sally ??? Shepard] I believe now applied for a pension. (4) I have been informed by some of my former agents that Col. Baldwin's Regiment of Artificers (in which John Shepard was a Captain was disbanded two years before the close of the war & Congress had decided??? that the officers of that Regiment were not entitled to Commutation pay) but it appears by the Affidavits above alluded to that he was in the service to the close of the war. The terms I am authorized by the other heirs is one-third if prosecuted??? to effect. The Heirs are Sophia Shepard, the wife of L. Nathan [sic, actually Elnathan] Botsford, Sarah I. Shepard, the wife of Myron Stevens [the writer of this letter], Almira Shepard, the widow of David E. Shepard, Lyda Shepard, wife of Samuel R. Shepard, a widow Hannah Shepard wife of Ralph Bingham & Wm F. Shepard.
The heirs have authorized me to employ an Agent or Agents to transact the business for us. I do hereby appoint E. N______ of the City of Washington, District of Columbia, my lawful Attorney & authorize him to promote the claims of the heirs of John Shepard for services as Capt. in the Revolution for Commutation pay & Land.
Myron Stevens.
Cicero 1878
This article is an excerpt from
History of Onondaga County, New York, by W. W. Clayton, published in 1878 by D. Mason & Co., Syracuse, NY. Retrieved from
https://openlibrary.org/books/OL6906339M/…_History_of_Onondaga_County_New_York.
Read online at
5,255]https://www.archive.org/stream/historyofonondag00clayC
ICEROCICERO was originally Township number six of the Military Tract, and at the organization of the county was included in the town of Lysander. In 1807, it was erected into a town by itself, and included the present town of Clay till the latter was set off in 1827. Towards the south part of the town is an extensive swamp containing about four thousand acres, with but little timber, which has been considered, except in a few spots, incapable of recovery to purposes of cultivation. It is a bog underneath covered by a thick moss, over which a man can walk in the dry part of the season, and into which a sharp pole may be thrust to the depth of seven or eight feet. The deposit is a black decayed vegetable matter resting upon a bed of marl. It is not at all unlikely that this whole swamp may yet be drained and become the most valuable land in the country, as its elevation is twenty-five feet above the surface of the lake.
* * *
EARLY SETTLEMENTS,The first white settler in the town of Cicero was a Mr. Dexter, a blacksmith, who settled opposite Fort Brewerton in 1790.
Mr. Oliver Stevens, father of the late
Judge John L. Stevens; settled at the fort in 1789. He cultivated a garden on the south side of the river, to which he removed in a few years, and died there in 1813.
Mr. Stevens was an Indian trader, and was induced to come here through the representations of his two brothers who had been soldiers at the garrison from 1756 to 1758. He carried on an extensive trade with the Indians in furs, peltry, &c., Fort Schuyler being at that time the great mart west of Albany.
Mr. Stévéns also kept a boátman’s tavern; furnishing supplies and other necessaries to those who navigated the lake and rivers. He sometimes spent his winters at Salina [NY], and there in 1802 his son,
Hon. John L. Stevens, was born.
Ryal Bingham settled at Fort Brewerton in 1791, and subsequently removed to Salina, where he was appointed the first Justice of the Peace.
All the first settlements in the town of Cicero were made along the Oneida River and Lake. John Leach settled at Cicero Corners in 1802, and for several years kept a tavern in a small log cabin.
Elijah Loomis was the first settler at South Bay, on the lake shore, in 1804, where he purchased a lot on which he resided. He was a Revolutionary War soldier and received a pension from the Government. Martin Woodruff settled near him the same year. Their nearest neighbors were at Brewerton, five miles distant.
Captain John Shepard, who served in the Revolutionary war, drew Lot No. 11, of the township of Cicero, lying on the lake shore east of Brewerton. At an early day he took possession of his lot, sold part, cleared and cultivated the rest, and with his family lived upon it till his death, in 1824. He was the only man who occupied a lot in this town for which he served. He was the first Justice of the Peace in the town in 1804.
25 EARLY SETTLERS - Town of Cicero - Submitted by Kathy CrowellSource: Dwight H. Bruce, Onondaga's Centennial. Boston History Co., 1896, Vol. I, pp. 807-824.
In Indian history, the town, with one exception, occupies no conspicuous place, yet outside of the swampy sections it was for many years the haunt of hunting parties and the scene of warlike and other excursions, especially along the shores of Oneida Lake and River, which constitute the northern boundary. At the foot of the lake the Indians had a famous fishing village, which Le Moyne mentions in 1654 as being on the south side of the Oneida River, but which Charlevoix, on a map published in 1744, locates on the north bank on or near the site of Fort Brewerton. The village was called Techiroguen, while the locality was known as Oh-saha-u-ny-tak se-ugh-kah ("where the waters run out of Oneida Lake").
.....The first white settler in Cicero was a blacksmith named Dexter, who located opposite Fort Brewerton, on the site of Brewerton village, in 1790, and lived there many years.
Oliver Stevens had already resided about a year on the north side of the [Oneida] river and had a garden on the south side in this town [Cicero], whither he removed soon after, and died in 1813.
Mr. Stevens located at this point through representations of its natural beauty made by his two brothers, who had been in the garrison of the fort, carried on trade with the Indians and kept a boatmen's tavern. In the exciting times from 1790 to 1794, when there was general fear of Indian troubles,
Mr. Stevens was commissioned by Governor Clinton to build a block-house, which was used for a dwelling in later years in 1811. In 1798 he was appointed the first clerk of the great town of Mexico, in Oswego county. In his isolated situation he was forced to endure many hardships and privations, and his life in the wilderness was replete with incident. His experience on a journey to Mexico to a town meeting in March, 1792, is thus related by Clark:
He started off early in the morning with his gun in hand and a knapsack of provisions on his back. There was no road, nor scarcely a path; he relied mainly on his skill as a woodsman and his knowledge of the sun to guide him safely through his journey. He traveled on, unconscious of harm, till near the middle of the afternoon, when he found himself in the vicinity of a pack of wolves. By their howling he was aroused not only to a sense of his danger, but to the fact that he had lost his way, and that he had no means of recovering it. He set forward with vigor in hope of coming out at a "clearing" in the vicinity of the place of his destination, but all to no purpose; the more he exerted himself the more he became convinced of the peril of his situation. The wolves drew nearer and nearer, and seemed by their boldness to be meditating an attack. At length one, bolder than his companions, a large black one, advanced to within a few paces of him, upon which he fired and killed him dead. The scent of the blood of the dead wolf seemed to increase the voracity of the survivors, and for a time he thought he should in turn be slain. Nothing daunted, he stood at bay looking them firmly in the eye, and after awhile they retired a respectful distance, sitting around on their haunches, as if holding a council of war. During this cessation of hostilities
Mr. Stevens struck a fire and kindled it, reloaded his gun, and sallied forth, dragging the dead wolf by the heels to his fiery fortress. * * * Here the solitary wanderer stood all night, not daring to refresh himself with sleep, amid the din and howlings of the hungry wolves. Towards morning he was relieved from his anxiety by the retreat of the wolves, who left and disturbed him no more. He now prepared a hasty meal at the fire, partook of it, and concluded to retrace his steps. Packing up his wolf-skin he proceeded homeward. The sun rose to meridian, and still he traveled on; night came, and for aught he could tell he was no nearer home than when he started in the morning. Being weary with his day's journey he again kindled a fire, laid himself down to rest, and slept soundly till morning. At early dawn he again set forward in quest of home, and about ten in the morning, to his indescribable joy, discovered the British flag flying at the fort at Oswego. * * * The day following, being the fifth from his departure, he arrived safely to the bosom of his family, who had already become somewhat alarmed for his safety. The bounty then paid by the State for a full-grown wolf was $40, which he in due time received.
Mr. Stevens passed some of the winter seasons in Salina, and there in 1802 was born his son,
John L. Stevens, who became a judge and justice of the peace in Onondaga county, and died in 1874. In 1791 Rial Bingham and Patrick McGee settled at Brewerton, whence the former subsequently removed to Salina, where he became a prominent citizen. McGee built the first frame house, in which he kept the first tavern in town, and which stood on the site of the later Brewerton House, which was burned in 1836. This pioneer hostelry was a popular resort for boatmen and others and was kept from about 1812 by Jonathan Emmons. In 1793 McGee became the first white settler in the town of Clay at Three River Point, where he died. The same year (1791) John Thayer, an acquaintance of
Oliver Stevens, arrived at Salina, and learning there that his friend had settled in Brewerton resolved to visit him. It was mid-winter. He was directed to follow the Indian trail and the blazed trees, but he lost his way, became bewildered, and wandered hopelessly in the woods three days and two nights without food or shelter. Finally, striking Oneida River three and one-half miles west of the fort, he started to cross on the ice, but broke through, and before he reached his friend's dwelling his feet were badly frozen. Mortification set in, and he was conveyed to Cherry Valley, N.Y., on a handsled, where both of his feet were amputated. He afterwards lived in Palermo, Oswego county.
The first settlement on the site of Cicero Corners was made in 1802 by John Leach, who for several years kept tavern in a log house. He was the grandfather of T. J. Leach, of Syracuse. Elijah Loomis was the first settler at South Bay, where he purchased land in 1804. He was a Revolutionary soldier and drew a pension. Near him Martin Woodruff settled in the same year, and their nearest neighbors were at Brewerton, five miles distant.
The Emmons family has always been conspicuous in the history of the town, especially in Brewerton, where members have lived for five generations. Jonathan Emmons and Mary, his wife, came here in 1804 from Nassau, Rensselaer county, and settled on lot 10, purchasing 600 acres of land, a part of which has ever since been vested in the name. They had eighteen children. Their sixth child, Samuel, born in Nassau in February, 1794, lived to be the oldest settler in Cicero, dying aged nearly 100 years, and had six children, of whom Jonathan, the youngest, succeeded to the homestead, while another son, Leonard Franklin, was for eighteen years janitor of the court house in Syracuse. A legislative act of 1813 gave Jonathan Emmons, father of Benjamin, and
great-grandfather of Edward N. Emmons, the exclusive privilege of conducting a ferry across the river at Brewerton, which he continued many years.
When Jonathan Emmons made his settlement at Brewerton the site of the present village contained only a few log cabins. There were no roads in the town. The nearest physician was Dr. Gordon Needham at Onondaga Valley. There was no mill nearer than those on the south and at Rotterdam (Constantia) on the east, the latter being built in 1800 by George Scriba, the great landed proprietor of Oswego county. Mr. Emmons hollowed the top of a white oak stump in the usual pioneer manner, and with a large pestle on a spring pole pounded his corn and that of his neighbors into coarse meal.
Capt. John Shepard was the only grantee among the fifty . . . Revolutionary soldiers who drew lots in the present town who became an actual resident of Cicero. He settled at an early day on his claim (lot 11) between Brewerton and the lake, but sold a part of it, and cleared and improved the remainder, where he lived with his family until his death in 1824 [sic, actually, 1822]. He became a Presbyterian preacher in the later years of his life and was one of the first justices of the peace in the town.
All the early settlers in this town located along Oneida Lake and River, and they found it an unwholesome locality, like many others that in later years became healthful. The pioneers suffered much from fever and ague and other diseases common to the miasmic influence of new countries, and some of them were at times distressed for food. The lack of water power postponed the erection of saw mills, the first one not being built until 1823 by Moses and Freeman Hotchkiss. The absence of grist mills long compelled the inhabitants to go great distances for their flour, while the clearing of land was unremunerative because of no early saw mills to convert the forests into lumber. These drawbacks involved the loss of time and money, militated against the rapid
development of the town, and are the chief reasons why the inhabitants were less prosperous in early years than those of other localities. As the settlements advanced, however, in the western and northern parts, a source of income was developed which greatly benefited later comers. This was through the manufacture of barrels for the salt industry at Salina. For many years Cicero and Clay supplied a large portion of the salt packages used, and employed so large a part of the men and boys in the town that agriculture was generally neglected. This brought a revenue, but it was not conducive to permanent settlement nor to the best interests of the community. When the timber had been cut and made into barrels the people turned their attention to farm
improvement and inaugurated the period of prosperity that has ever since continued.
Oneida Lake and River presented a busy scene in early years with the passage of the many boats of the Inland Lock and Navigation Company, which was chartered in 1792. By the improvements made by this company Durham boats, sixty feet or more in length, carrying twenty tons, and drawing two feet of water; passed from Schenectady to Seneca Lake or Oswego with only short portages. As many as three hundred boats passed the Rome portage in a single year. It was over this route that nearly all the early settlers of this section of the State arrived.
On the 20th of February, 1807, the civil town of Cicero, comprising military township No. 6, of the same name, and including the present town of Clay, was erected into a separate town by an act of the State Legislature, and soon afterward the first town meeting convened at the house of Patrick McGee at Three River Point, the moderator being Moses Kinne. The first officers were Thomas Pool, supervisor, and Elijah Loomis, town clerk. The town records were burned in 1851, with the store of Charles H. Carr, who was at that time town clerk, and it is therefore impossible to preserve in these pages the many names and interesting items of local history which they would necessarily contain.
One of the earliest roads of much importance in Cicero was authorized by the State Legislature in 1812 and opened soon afterward direct from Salina to Brewerton. This became well known as the "Salt Road." The money necessary for the poor thoroughfare that resulted was advanced by the State, and a tax levied on contiguous lands to repay it, and along the route of this highway the first plank road in the United States was constructed in 1846, extending from Salina to Central Square (Oswego county), at a cost of about $1,500 per mile. In 1873 this plank road was abandoned from Central Square to Brewerton and in 1876 from Brewerton to Cicero Corners, and from the latter point to Salina is still maintained.
The War of 1812-15 caused much excitement throughout the settled portions of the town, not only from the sight of soldiers passing down the lake and river to Oswego, but from alarming reports which spread among the inhabitants from time to time. Many settlers joined in the defense of Oswego and Sackett's Harbor, while nearly the entire male population was kept in readiness to march in case of emergency. No sooner had this struggle ceased than the famous "cold season" of 1816 swept over the country, bringing with the following winter a universal scarcity of provisions and causing great suffering to both man and beast. But from these two events the pioneers soon recovered, and thenceforward general prosperity prevailed.
At this point we may briefly refer again to the settlements and name some citizens whose public spirit and enterprise contributed materially to the development of not only this territory, but the entire county north of Syracuse. The following list of early settlers, pioneers, and prominent men, residents of the present towns of Cicero, Clay and Salina between the years 1795 and 1824, was preserved by Lewis H. Redfield, editor of the Onondaga Register from 18114 to 1831: Dioclesian and Elisha Alvord, Dr. William Kirkpatrick, Benjamin Byington, Ashbel Kellogg, Daniel Gilbert, Thomas McCarthy, John G. Forbes, James Lynch, William Clark, Fisher Curtis, Dr. Daniels, Thomas Wheeler, Matthew Van Vleck, John Leach,
Oliver Stevens, Patrick McGee (the first settler of
Clay), Isaac Cody, Jonathan Emmons, Moses Kinne, Elijah Loomis, Dr. Orcutt, William Wheadon, David Hamlin, Abraham Van Vleck, Ira Gilchrist, John O'Blennis, Amos P. Granger, John Wilkinson, Archy Kasson, Timothy Gilchrist, Rufus Stanton, Cornelius Scouten, Mars Nearing, Dr. Brace,
Judge [John L.] Stevens,
Rev. John Shepard, James and Orsamus Johnson, Asa Eastwood, Judah Gage, Dean Richmond, Moses D. Burnet, Thomas Pool, James Bogardus, Rev. Mr. Barlow, Dr. David S. Colvin, Richard Adams, E. W. Leavenworth, S. W. Cadwell, Dr. Mather Williams, John Durnford, Stephen Smith, Philo D. Mickles, Matthew M. David, Thomas Spencer, Harvey Baldwin, Joseph Slocum, William D. Stewart, John Rogers, A. N. Van Patten, Schuyler Strong, Rev. J. Watson Adams, Henry Davis, jr., Gen. Jonas Mann, Homer Wheaton, Thomas G. Alvord, Elihu L. Phillips, John F. Wyman, Henry Gifford, Paschal Thurbor, Henry Newton, Sterling Cossit, Charles A. Baker, Dr. Jonathan Day, Ichabod Brackett, Columbus C. Bradley, Hathaway Richmond, David Stewart, Sampson Jaqueth, William Winton, and David S. Earll.
Many of these will be remembered as very prominent in Onondaga history. Asa Eastwood, born in Allentown, N.J., in 1781, came to Cicero in 1817, bringing the first wagon and threshing machine into the town. He was particularly interested in the welfare of the county agricultural society. March 13, 1821, he was appointed a justice of the peace and the same year was elected a delegate to the Constitutional Convention. From 1822 to 1825 he lived in New York city, and afterward was engaged for a short time in the salt business at Salina. In 1832, he was elected to the Assembly. He was a Democrat until 1856, when, being opposed to slavery, he affiliated with the Republican party, and died in this town February 25, 1870. Orsamus Johnson was born in Massachusetts in 1800, and for a time followed merchandising in Brewerton. He held several town offices, and took the Albany Journal for over sixty years. Dr. Daniel Olcott, the first physician in Cicero village, located there in 1817.
By 1818 Cicero Corners had assumed sufficient proportions as to warrant Mrs. Isaac Cody opening a store there, and when the post-office was established in 1820 her husband became the first postmaster. At that time mail was carried once a week on horseback. Mrs. Cody visited New York twice a year to buy goods, which were brought by sloop or schooner to Albany and thence by wagon to Cicero. On these trips she wore a bombazine dress, then a fashionable fabric, and carried her money in gold in a belt about her person. Her small store was in the building which was also the tavern, the latter being kept by her husband. From them the place was called "Cody's Corners." Mrs. Cody was the first "new woman" in Onondaga county, as well as the first female to engage in mercantile business. The second merchant was Samuel Warren in 1825. In 1841 Alexander Cook became the first practicing attorney. The first church in the town was built here by the Presbyterian society in 1819. It was of logs and in 1830 gave place to a frame structure. The first settled pastor was Rev. Truman Baldwin. In 1832 his society was changed to a Reformed church having such members as Isaac Coonley,
Lot Hamilton, Ezra and Calvin Hart, Noah Merriam, and Peter Collier. The church was burned in the fall of 1881, and on the same site a new edifice was erected and dedicated in 1882 at a cost of about $3,000.
Dr. Hezekiah Joslyn settled in Cicero in 1823 and for many years was the principal physician in town. having completed his medical studies he left Sandville, Oneida county, on horseback, and traveled around Oneida Lake to Cicero, where he found Dr. Orcutt, who wished to sell his practice, which he purchased. Two years later Dr. Joslyn married Helen, youngest daughter of Sir George Leslie, a Scotch gentleman, and a half-sister of Mrs. Cody. They began housekeeping in a style quite beyond that of the ordinary pioneer. Mrs. Joslyn was a fine musician, and besides carpets and handsome furniture, possessed a piano, the first or one of the first in Onondaga county. It was made in London by G. Astor, a brother of John Jacob Astor, and is now in the possession
of Dr. Joslyn's daughter, Mrs. Matilda Joslyn Gage, of Fayetteville. Generous, kindly and hospitable, Dr. Joslyn at different times gave a home to homeless ones. The first Baptist minister in Cicero was Elder Samuel Thompson, an Englishman, who, against her father's consent, had married a lovely English girl, the daughter of an English gentleman of wealth and high position. So unforgiving was the father for the marriage of his daughter with a dissenting minister, that the young couple sailed away from the old country, eventually drifting to Cicero. There, far from all the luxuries of her early life this tenderly reared woman died, and no lot for a cemetery having been laid out, was buried in a field belonging to Mr. Cody, by the side of a son of his own. After the death of his wife Elder Thompson found a home for a year with Dr. Joslyn. The doctor's father, a Revolutionary soldier, died at his house in 1836.
Dr. Joslyn was a staunch Abolitionist, one of the founders of the 'Liberty Party,' and always a profound thinker and liberal supporter of every good movement. His ride extended throughout the surrounding country, often to a distance of fifty miles. He died at the home of his daughter, Mrs. M. J. Gage, in Fayetteville, in 1865.
In 1824 the first bridge across the Oneida River at Brewerton was erected, and in 1847 gave place to a new structure. The opening of the Erie Canal through Syracuse in 1825 inaugurated a new era of prosperity among the settlers of Cicero, chiefly because of its placing distant markets for their produce within what was then considered easy reach. Three years later the Oswego Canal was opened and also imparted a wholesome impulse to local industries, which derived an outlet through the established water route between Brewerton and Three River point. In 1827 the town of Cicero was reduced to its present limits
by the erection of Clay, and at the first available census, taken in 1830, this territory contained 1,808 inhabitants, while both towns together in 1825 had a population of 2,462.
According to a State Gazetteer published in 1836 Cicero contained 235 militia, 439 voters, 6,289 acres of improved land, 1,620 cattle, 550 horses, 2,011 sheep, 1,278 swine, six saw-mills, three asheries, one tannery, thirteen school districts, 714 school children, public money, including teacher's wages, expended for school purposes, $822; assessed value of real estate $309,337; personal property, $2,730. At this time there were in Cicero Corners one Presbyterian and one Baptist church, a post-office, two stores, two taverns, and fifteen dwellings.
In early days the village of Cicero was known as Cody's Corner's from Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Cody, as previously mentioned, who moved away about 1833, after building a part of the Parker House, in which Samuel Cushing at one time had a store. This hostelry was rebuilt under Judson Settle and was kept by Ebenezer Crowell, Ira Colson, A. S. Auborn, George Crownhart and his father, Spencer Hawn, and others. Asa Eastwood and son Enos erected what was long known as the "old yellow store," which, after them, was kept by Julius Dunham, Allen Merriam, Irving Coonley, Horace D. Parks, and James Van Alstine. Other
merchants in the place were Samuel Warren, Harry and Lewis Gage, Joseph Carr (under whom the "Brick store" was burned and rebuilt), John Hamilton, Sylvester Brunt, Lorenzo Brown, William Youngs, Robert Lower, John Kloshien,
A. L. Shepard, Frank Coville, and Mr. Bettinger. The village has also had as blacksmiths Cyrus Chapman, John R. Cook, Adam Kirshenbaum and sons, and John Kloshein, sr.; wagonmakers, Mr. Littlefield, George W. Stevens, and H. A. Moyer; tailors, William Andrews and Nicholas Rector. Another early tavern stood on the corner east of Mrs. Electa Fox's dwelling and was kept by Albro Leach, Ebenezer Crowell, John Van Bramer, Noah C. Frary, and Lester Herrick and their widows, James Anderson, and James Robinson, under whom it burned. In the village was also at one time a saw mill owned by Josiah H. Young and a stave mill run by Sylvester Brunt.
Among other settlers before 1840 the following are still remembered: Alexander and Quartus Cushing,
David Shepard, Hiram and John R. Wright, Charles Wright, Myrick and Emery Moulton, sr., Joseph Douglass, Cornelius Van Alstine and sons Daniel and James, Isaac Brown,
Gibbs Skiff, Ira Hall, James Anderson, Bartholomew Andrews, Noah Merriam,
Nathan Botsford, Isaac Myers, William Hill, Dr. H. Joslyn, John Slosson, Jonathan E. Pierce, Nathan Allen, James Lynn, Allen Merriam (brother of Noah), Guernsey Andrews,
Lot Hamilton, Waterbury Fancher, William McKinley, Simon Bort, John Mead, Horace Cole, Alonzo Plant (brother of Lauren), William White, Timothy Loomis, the Babcock and Gillett families, David Hoyt, Isaac and Daniel Baum, George Butler, sr., Burr Hackett, Benjamin Eastwood, Zebulon Weaver.
Chester Loomis came to Cicero in 1823 and purchased the farm of 150 acres upon which a Mr. Lynch had built a substantial dwelling in 1809. Here he died September 5, 1851, aged sixty-six years. His son Addison J. succeeded to the homestead. Another son, Henry H., the youngest of his twelve children, was born here April 20, 1833, served as county superintendent of the poor from 1875 to 1881, and finally became a partner of Hoyt H. Freeman, of Syracuse, in manufacturing willow baskets on an extensive scale. in 1877 he associated himself with others in the erection of a large canning factory in Cicero village, which is now owned by Loomis, Allen & Co.
Lauren Plant, born in Benson, Vt., March 7, 1817, came to this town in 1833 and for thirty-five years served as constable. He was also collector and town clerk, carried on butchering for a quarter of a century, manufactured salt barrels, and being a carpenter by trade assisted in erecting many of the buildings standing in Cicero and vicinity. His son Byron is the present town clerk (January, 1896).
David H. Hoyt, born in 1813, migrated to Cicero in 1836, and with his brother Jacob purchase 136 acres of land. He married a daughter of Bartholomew Andrews, who was born here in 1823 and died in 1877.
Isaac Coonley, great-grandson of John Coonley, who emigrated from Germany to Dutchess county, N.Y., about 1750, was born in Albany county in 1810, taught school and learned the weaver's trade, and in 1838 settled in Jamesville, whence he moved to this town in 1849, where he died November 16, 1876. He was supervisor four terms, justice of the peace four years, and the father of Irving Coonley, who for sixteen years was postmaster and long a merchant at Cicero, being in partnership with Isaac Merriam and later with Russell Z. Sadler.
The village of Brewerton, meanwhile, had received many additional settlers and business enterprises. In 1836 the site was systematically laid out into lots by Orsamus Johnson, Daniel Wardwell, Miles W. Bennett, and Harvey Baldwin, and a few years later the place became noted for its extensive eel fisheries, in which Asa U. Emmons was largely identified. As many as 3,000 eels were taken from the river in a single night, but the business ceased about 1845, when the channel was deepened for navigation purposes. A large cooperage trade also contributed to the growth of the village. In 1846 four steamboats, named
Oneida, Oswego, Madison, and Onondaga, were put upon the lake and river by an Oswego company, for which Henry Guest was local agent. He was followed by William H. Carter, who subsequently became one of the company's successors and continued the enterprise many years. Among the old-time merchants were
John L. Stevens, Asa U. Emmons, Isaac Cody, Alexander Cushing, J. R. Loomis, E. E. Blinn, F. C. & A. A. Cushing, Edward N. Emmons, John W. Emmons, George Carter, and David H. Waterbury, jeweler and druggist, who was succeeded by his sons. Of the postmasters there were George Walkup, Orsamus Johnson, Asa U. Emmons, William H. Carter, Edward N. Emmons, W. W. Dority, Modestus Holbrook, and Mrs. E. C. Holbrook, incumbent. Edward N. Emmons served as deputy postmaster under Johnson, Asa U. Emmons, and Carter and afterward held the office for seventeen consecutive years until the second year of Cleveland's first administration. He was also in mercantile trade here from 1858 to 1895. The village has had as carriagemakers Joseph Livingston, father of James E. and grandfather of Charles H., and Robert McChesney, whose son Elmer is an undertaker; tailors, Cornell J. Wood, who lost a leg at Chancellorsville in the 149th N. Y. Vols., and Adelbert Wood, his son, who succeeded him; and blacksmiths, George Walkup, followed by his sons, Christopher D. and Andrew, Noel Kenyon, and Charles Stokes. Dr. Henry F. Marks was an early physician. The old Brewerton House was long an important feature of the village. It as kept at one time by John Van Bramer, father of William, and also by Harvey Bennett, L. W. Marsh, Cyrus Chapman, Henry Shute, and others. The brick hotel was built about 1868 by Charles E. Washburn, the present proprietor. Besides the establishments carried on by the foregoing citizens there was a tannery built by Philip Carter which was burned under the ownership of his son H. K.; a large saw mill near by, having upright and circular saws, which was also destroyed by fire; another saw mill on the lake shore erected by John B. Kathan, run several years by Hopkins & Benson, and burned while operated by a Mr. Foster; and a patent meat block factory and feed mill conducted by F. A. Strong and L. C. Pierce.
In fostering the two important elements of local advancement -- schools and religious worship -- the inhabitants of Brewerton as well as those of the town were from the first zealously inclined towards the highest excellence and regularity. Educational advantages were inaugurated in 1793 by Dea. George Ramsey, a Scotch Presbyterian, who passed the remainder of his life in the village. This pioneer teacher planted a standard that has ever since been maintained. As the village advanced schools were correspondingly increased in size and courses of study until 1855 a graded school house was built of brick at a cost of $1,000. This was torn down in 1892 and a new structure costing $3,500 erected on the same site . . . .
Cicero swamp became the subject of legislative action as early as 1836, when, on January 21, an act was passed naming Hezekiah Joslyn, John Leach, jr., and Benjamin French, commissioners to cause a map to be made and estimate the cost of systematic drainage, the expense to be assessed to the lands benefited. On March 3, 1852, the Legislature appointed Seth Spencer, of Manlius, and John W. Devoe and John S. Blodgett, of Dewitt, commissioners to drain wet lands in Manlius, Dewitt, and Cicero, by removing floodwood, bars, etc. They were also authorized to employ a surveyor and engineer and have accurate
maps and surveys made, the cost being assessed as before. This act was repealed July 18, 1853, and on April 16, 1858, another act was passed designating Mars Nearing, John B. Kathan, and Freeman Sadler as commissioners to drain the wet land in lots 11,12, 20, and 21, locally known as "Muskrat Swamp," between South Bay and Brewerton. The result of these various acts was the construction of ditches which have redeemed considerable portions of the swampy lands to cultivation.
In 1845 the town contained 223 militia, 597 voters, 624 school children, 8,192 acres of improved land, one saw mill, two asheries, three tanneries, three churches (Baptist, M. E., and Dutch Reformed), sixteen common schools, four taverns, six stores, 450 farmers, seven merchants, fifty mechanics, two physicians, and two lawyers. Contrast these with the following statistics of 1860: Acres of improved land, 14,376; valuation of real estate, $628,523, and personal property, $42,200; dwellings, 642; families, 689; freeholders, 529; school district, 15; school children, 1,305; horses, 901; oxen and calves, 1,274; cows, 1,324; sheep, 2,253; swine, 1,552; winter wheat, 1,920 bushels; spring wheat, 113,649 bushels; hay, 3,391 tons; potatoes, 24,842 bushels; apples, 20,131 bushels; butter, 129,140 pounds; cheese, 28,035 pounds; domestic cloths, 2,905 yards.
Referring once more to the settlers and residents of the town, whose enterprise and energy contributed to local development, it is pertinent to notice briefly such men as Capt. Valentine Dunham, who was born in Hamilton, N.Y., in 1816, finally located on Dunham's Island in Oneida Lake, later moved to South Bay, and kept a boat livery there some thirty years; Benjamin French, who built a saw mill on the west bank of Chittenango Creek near Bridgeport in 1825 and carried it on until 1854, when he was succeeded by Oney Sayles, who continued it a long time; James Terpenny, proprietor of the South Bay Hotel, who died February 3, 1847, aged sixty; Elijah Everson, father of A. Nelson and grandfather of William, who settled adjoining Frank Emmons; Joseph M. Moulton, father of Charles, William, and Alfred, who was president of the Cicero Turnpike Company and a large farmer south of Brewerton; Dr. M. H. Blynn, brevet lieutenant-colonel in the Rebellion, and long an active physician in Cicero; Henry C. Hart, a cavalryman at Sackett's Harbor in the war of 1812, whose wife, Eva Bellinger, was born in January, 1777, and died July 1, 1890, aged 113 years, and who had children John, Henry, Daniel, Jacob, William, and Peter Hart, and Mrs. Mary A. Nelson; Jesse Daniels, who started the first hop yard in 1874; and William H. Sherwood, Daniel Van Alstine, Benjamin F. Sweet (long a justice
of the peace), Asahel Saunders, Noah Merriam, Ambrose Sadler, Robert Lower, Joseph Douglass and Emory Moulton (sons of Emory, sr.), William Van Bramer (who built a cheese factory in 1863), William H. Merritt, and John Baum. Hector B. Johnson, born in Germany in 1844, was first a farmer and later a merchant in Brewerton, and served as supervisor (being chairman of the board), member of assembly in 1887 and 1888, sheriff of the county in 1887-91, and commissioner of public works of Syracuse from March, 1892, until his death August 24, 1895.
During the war of the Rebellion from 1861 to 1865 the town contributed a large number of brave and heroic soldiers to the Union armies, responding promptly to every call. Patriotism and excitement ran high. Numerous war meetings were held, notably one on May 4, 1861, at Brewerton, when the names of fifty-four citizens were enrolled with Henry Emmons as captain. Cicero's record in that eventful struggle is pre-eminently a brilliant one and will forever illuminate the pages of history.
Among the various industries that sprang up and contributed to local prosperity was the old Bridgeport tannery, which was built as early as 1825 and continued successfully until 1869. In 1855 a cheese factory was started one mile north of Cicero village, which is still running, the owner being Addison J. Loomis, while in 1867 another was erected in Cicero Center by William Sternberg, which afterward passed into the possession of O. J. Daniels. There are now four cheese factories in town. In 1870 a steam flour, saw, and stave mill was built in Cicero village by the Cicero Mill Company, capitalized at $25,000, at a cost of $23,000. The present owner is A. J. Loomis, who also manufactures cheese boxes.
On November 9, 1871, the Syracuse Northern Railroad was opened through Brewerton and the northwest corner of the town, and again all local industries received a wholesome impulse. In 1875 it became a part of the Rome, Watertown, and Ogdensburg system, and is now operated by the New York Central under lease.
The village of Brewerton was incorporated in 1872, the first officers, elected September 9 of that year, being
John L. Stevens, president; E. N. Emmons, clerk; William H. Carter, D. H. Waterbury, William H. Sherwood, and William H. Merritt, trustees. Here in 1852, on January 10, Fort Brewerton Lodge, No. 256, F. & A. M. was chartered with thirteen members, the charter officers being John Baum, W. M.; H. V. Keller, S. W.; and James J. Anderson, J. W. In August, 1874, the Weekly Visitor, the first and only newspaper, was started in the village, but very soon discontinued publication.
The hamlets of Cicero Center and South Bay were the scenes of some activity before the beginning of the last half of this century. The former in later years obtained a post-office, an M. E. church, and one or two stores, while the latter had its first settler in the person of Elijah Loomis, a Revolutionary soldier, as early as 1804. South Bay has more recently sprung into prominence as a summer resort and also as the northern terminal of the Syracuse and South Bay Railroad lately projected. A little to the north, in Oneida Lake, is Frenchman's Island, so named from its original white settler, a Frenchman named Desvatine,
commonly known as Count St. Hiliary, who with his wife, a daughter of the noble house of Clermont, sought refuge here about 1793, where he was discovered by Chancellor Livingston. After Bonaparte had put an end to the reign of terror these titled exiles returned to France. The island belongs to Constantia in Oswego county and within the past twenty-five or thirty years has developed into quite a popular summer resort. The hamlet of Centerville or North Syracuse is noticed fully in the chapter devoted to Clay.
In closing this narrative brief allusion may be made to the agricultural products which enhance the revenue of the town and distinguish it somewhat from other towns in the county. Among the important crops are tobacco, potatoes, and vegetables, especially cabbage, while fruit is also grown in abundance. Dairying has within recent years become one of the leading industries, the milk being both manufactured into cheese and butter and sold in Syracuse to consumers. Hay, grain, hops, etc., are also produced in considerable quantities.
Oneida Lake has always been exceedingly productive of several species of fish, it being remarkable for fish breeding. Vast quantities of fish have been shipped from it to home and eastern markets, in other years, giving employment and profit to large numbers of men. After the Northern railway was built Brewerton became the chief point of shipment, and for many years Hector B. Johnson was an extensive shipper. Since State laws for the protection of fish were enacted and passed, the catch has been comparatively light. The lake was mainly fed with the very best of water from the Adirondack regions, until saw mills were established along the stream to pollute the water. There are still many streams of pure spring water entering from the north shore, so that the water of the lake is still unsurpassed for the breeding of fish.
Owing to the burning of the town records in 1851, as previously noted, it is impossible to give a complete list of the supervisors of Cicero. The following are all that can be ascertained:
Judson Gage, 1825-28; Hezekiah Joslyn, 1829-31; Truman Rathburn, 1832-33; Benjamin French, 1834; Judson Gage, 1835-36; Hezekiah Joslyn, 1837; Judson Carr, 1838-40; blank, 1841; Benjamin French, 1842; blank, 1843-44; Isaac Baum, 1845-47; James B. Benedict, 1848; Orsamus Johnson, 1849; Fernando C. Cushing, 1850-1852; John B. Kathan, 1853; Josiah H. Young, 1854-55; Oney Sayles, 1856; Josiah H. Young, 1856; Byron D. Benson, 1858-59; Isaac Coonley, 1860-61; Daniel Becker, 1862-63; Benjamin F. Sweet, 1864; Josiah H. Young, 1865-66; Isaac Coonley, 1867-68; Henry H. Loomis, 1869; William McKinley, 1870-71; Frank A. Strong, 1872-73; Addison J. Loomis, 1874-75; Nelson P. Eastwood, 1876-78; William Van Bramer, 1879-82; Hector B. Johnson, 1883-86; Irving Coonley, 1887-89; Melville Jackson, 1890; Walstein J. Snyder, 1891-93; Jacob Sneller, Jr., 1894-95. Byron Plant has been town clerk since 1839.
The population of the town has been as follows: In 1820, 1,303; 1825, 2,462; 1830, 1,808; 1835, 2,191; 1840, 2,464; 1845, 2,651; 1850, 2,980; 1855, 3,388; 1860, 3,277; 1865, 3,166; 1870, 2,902; 1875, 2,800; 1880, 2,934; 1890, 2,636; 1892, State count, 2,553.
Submitted 18 July 1998.
26 HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF CICERO - Submitted by Sue GoodfellowSource: Past and Present of Syracuse and Onondaga County, by The Rev. William M. Beauchamp. NY: S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1908, pp. 344-349.
The original township of Cicero embraced Clay and was named after the great Roman orator, one of whose names was given to Tully also. Much relating to it has been already given and will not be repeated. For civil purposes it was at first included in the town of Lysander. February 20, 1807, it became independent. In April, 1827, half its territory was set off as Clay. The site of Brewerton saw many distinguished visitors, and there Champlain in 1615, and Le Moyne in 1654 crossed the river. It was a favorite spot in earlier days.
Fort Brewerton was built in 1759 and is thus described by Clark: "It was a regular octagon, about 350 feet in diameter, surrounded by a wall of earth about five feet above the interior area of the works. In front of this wall was a ditch about ten feet deep, from the top of the inside wall, encompassing the whole. In front of the ditch, encircling the whole, was another embankment, not quite as high as the interior one, corresponding to it in all its lines and angles, with a covered gateway on the south side facing the river. In the interior embankment was set a row of palisades about twenty feet high, with loop-holes and embrasures. It is situated on a gentle elevation, about forty rods to the river, and when garrisoned and armed for war could easily command the passage of the river, and must have presented a formidable barrier. A little east of the fort was built, at the same time with the fort, a mole of huge rocks, about ten rods into the river, at the end of which was placed a sentry's box, where a sentinel was continually posted to watch for enemies passing up the river." This seems an error.
Cicero swamp occupies about four thousand acres; originally as much more. There is a good water power at Bridgeport, a village partially in this town.
A blacksmith named Dexter is said to have located on the south side of the [Oneida] river at Brewerton in 1790, living there any years. He was not there, however, in 1791, 1792, and 1795.
Oliver Stevens lived on the north side in 1792, having a garden on the south side, and soon living there. He built the block house on the north side in 1794, having come there in 1789. Ryal Bingham was there in 1791, but the statement that McGee was there that year is an error, as is the statement that a school was kept there in 1792.
Jonathan Emmons came there in 1804 with his wife Mary, settling on Lot 10 and purchasing six hundred acres. He needed it, for he had eighteen children. In 1813 he obtained the exclusive right of maintaining a ferry there, holding this for many years. At this coming the town had no roads and no physician nearer than Onondaga Valley. All the early settlers were on Oneida lake and river, and suffered from sickness. They had to go far for flour, and there was little water power for saw mills, but the development of the salt works after a time furnished an ample market for barrels, and this became a leading industry. A state road was opened in 1812 from Salina to Brewerton, known as the Salt Road, and this and the succeeding plank road helped the town much.
Most of the travel was by the river for a long time. The Inland Lock & Navigation Company was chartered in 1792, and it became possible for Durham boats, sixty feet long and drawing two feet of water, to pass from Schenectady to Seneca lake or Oswego with short portages. In a single year three hundred boats passed the Rome portage. These boats varied in length and in the number of men. They had oars, setting poles and sails, as well as ropes for towing, and were deep, flat-bottomed and pointed at both ends. In 1788 Elkanah Watson spoke of those on the Mohawk: "I was surprised to observe the dexterity with which they manage their boats, and the progress they make in poling up the river, against a current of at least three miles an hour." Three years later he said of the men with him: "They occasionally rowed in still water, setting with short poles, at the rapids, with surprising dexterity. In this mode their average progress is three miles an hour," but very fatiguing.
The first town meeting of the military township of Cicero, No. 6, was held at Three River point in 1807, Thomas Pool being elected supervisor and Elijah Loomis town clerk. The town records were burned in 1851. The passage of troops to Oswego and elsewhere made things lively in the war of 1812, and the cold year brought suffering. Asa Eastwood brought the first wagon and threshing machine into the town in 1817, and became a prominent man. Dr. Daniel Orcott came to Cicero village the same year as the first physician there. Mrs. Isaac Cody opened a store there in 1818, and her husband became first postmaster in 1820. The mail was carried once a week on horseback. From them the place was called Cody's Corners. The second merchant was Samuel Warren in 1825, and Alexander Cook was the first lawyer in 1841.
The first church in the town was built here by the Presbyterians in 1819. It was of logs, and was replaced by a frame edifice in 1830. The first pastor was Rev. Truman Baldwin. In 1832 it became the Reformed church. This building was burned in 1881, and a new one dedicated in 1882, costing three thousand dollars.
Dr. Hezekiah Joslyn came to Cicero in 1823, and was long the principal physician of the town, and the father of the late Mrs. Matilda Joslyn Gage of Fayetteville. Beside other industries the village once had Young's saw mill and Brunt's stave mill. In 1877, Loomis, Allen & Company's canning factory was established. A Baptist church was organized in 1832, which became a Disciple society afterward.
Brewerton was laid out as a village in 1836 by Orsamus Johnson, Miles W. Bennett, Harvey Baldwin and Daniel Wardwell. It became noted for its eel fisheries, as many as three thousand eels being taken in one night. This ceased in 1845, when the channel was deepened. Four steamboats were placed on the lake and river in 1846, by an Oswego company, Henry Guest being local agent. They were the Madison, Oneida, Onondaga and Oswego. William H. Carter continued this business for many years, but it gradually declined, and some of the early industries have vanished.
Deacon George Ramsey, a Scotch Presbyterian, is said to have planted his faith in Brewerton in 1793 -- perhaps later. He was a teacher, but there was no house of worship there till 1849, when a union church was built by the Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians and Universalists with the usual result. After 1869 it was used exclusively as an Methodist Episcopal church, a society have been organized that year under Rev. Ebenezer Arnold. The First Church of the Disciples, organized in 1835, built a church in 1851. The Stone Arabia Methodist Episcopal church was formed in January, 1845, at a schoolhouse one mile west of Cicero Center. A church was built in 1847, and rebuilt in 1869. The Taft Methodist Episcopal church was organized by Rev. Barnard Peck in 1847, and a church built in 1857. The Cicero Methodist Episcopal church was formed in 1850 by Rev. Browning Nichols and a church was at once erected. In the same place the only Roman Catholic church in the town was built in 1889. A former Baptist church in Cicero village was transferred to the Universalists in 1867. It was rebuilt in 1871. This society was organized in 1859 by Rev. A. A. Thayer.
Colonel [sic; actually, Captain] John Shepard drew his military Lot 11 and settled on it near the lake, living there till his death in 1824 [sic; actually, 1822]. He became a Presbyterian minister late in life. Elijah Loomis, another Revolutionary soldier, came to Cicero Center in 1804, and became influential. In 1846 a lock was built at Oak Orchard, nine miles below Brewerton, and another about half way between. A new bridge was also built in 1847. November 9, 1871, a railroad was opened through Brewerton, from Syracuse to Watertown. This is now leased by the new York Central, and is an important part of its system. The consequent ease of access has made Brewerton quite a summer resort, and the trolley line to South Bay now building, will furnish new attractions. The barge canal will restore water traffic to its natural channels, and some old dreams may yet come true.
The village of Brewerton was incorporated in 1872, with
John L. Stevens president and E. N. Emmons clerk. Fort Brewerton Lodge, No. 256, F. A. M., chartered January 10, 1852, is located there. Frenchman's Island is elsewhere described.
Asa Eastwood came in 1817, bringing the first wagon and threshing machine into Cicero. He was much interested in the county agricultural society and held public offices. Although occasionally resident elsewhere, he died here February 25, 1870. Orsamus Johnson was once a merchant in Brewerton, and held several town offices. It is said he took the Albany journal for over sixty years.
Dr. Joslyn married the youngest daughter of Sir George Leslie, and lived in fine style for those days, having handsome furniture, carpets and a piano. He befriended a Baptist clergyman, Elder Samuel Thompson, the first in Cicero, who had made a runaway match in England. The parents were unforgiving, and the couple drifted to Cicero, where the young wife died. Dr. Joslyn provided a grave, and took the widower home for a year. He was a thorough abolitionist.
The great Cicero swamp, a remarkable place, came before the Legislature in 1836, when three commissioners were appointed to make a map and estimate the cost of drainage. In 1852 three other commissioners were charged to drain lands in Manlius, Cicero and De Witt, first making maps and assessing cost, but this act was repealed the next year. In 1858 commissioners were appointed to drain the great Muskrat swamp, between Brewerton and South Bay. Ditches were made in both swamps and much land reclaimed.
In 1791 John Thayer started from Salina to visit
Oliver Stevens at Brewerton, following the Indian trail. He lost his way and was three days in the woods without shelter or food. In crossing Oneida river he broke through the ice, and his feet were badly frozen before he arrived at home. They mortified and he was taken to Cherry valley on a sled, where both were amputated. Nearly sixty years later he was in good health in Oswego county.
Two of the
Shepard girls were lost in the woods at South Bay in 1811. After three days search they were found asleep. Ground nuts and wintergreens had sustained them. Such incidents happen in most new settlements.
In the alarm of 1794,
Oliver Stevens was charged with the erection of a block house near old Fort Brewerton, part of which was standing in 1849. Clark said: "A trench was dug about it, and pickets, twelve feet long, erected, of heavy logs, about four rods from the house. It had a substantial gate and way, on the side towards the river."
Mr. Stevens had adventures. In March, 1792, he went to the town meeting of the town of Mexico, held at Pulaski, starting early with gun and knapsack. There was no road, but he was a woodman and felt safe. About the middle of the afternoon wolves were following him, and he found he had lost his way. He sought a clearing but found none, and the wolves came nearer. A black one was close upon him, and him he shot. The others were furious, but he faced them, and they went back a little and sat on their haunches. He built a fire, reloaded his gun, dragged the dead wolf to the fire, skinned it, and drove off the rest with firebrands. It grew dark. He gathered fuel and watched. Toward morning the wolves went off. He got a hasty meal and started homeward, carrying the skin. At night he was still astray, but built a fire and slept. Next morning he was off early and at ten o'clock came to Oswego. He was on his homeward way next day, and on the fifth day reached home. He got a large wolf bounty.
The next year a half drowned man rushed in, saying a bear had attacked him and his companion in a boat, and the other might be killed.
Mr. Stevens took his gun and went to the rescue, finding the man on shore, and the bear in the boat, drifting down the stream. A shot ended the tableau, and a bear feast followed.
The town has little water power, except at Bridgeport, which lies mostly in Madison county, but Moses and Freeman Hotchkiss built the first saw mill in 1823. Of late the Whiting limestone quarry has been utilized by the South Bay trolley line, which is an important enterprise for the town, soon to be completed.
In 1836 Cicero village had a Presbyterian and Baptist church, a benevolent lodge, two stores, two taverns, and fifteen dwellings. In 1886 it had three blacksmith shops, four stores, two hotels and three physicians. The latter may be accounted for by the proximity of the great swamp.
In 1836 Brewerton had two stores, one kept by Asa V. Emmons, and the other by Alexander Cushing; Cyrus Hurd kept the toll gate; George Walkup was the blacksmith, and Henry F. Marks the physician. In 1886 it had two general stores, two groceries, two wagon shops, two hotels (one being in Oswego county), two dealers in agricultural implements, clothing store, shoe shop, ice dealer, feed store, drug and jewelry store, and coal yard. There were also two churches. Baldwin island, now tastefully laid out, is close to the southern shore, and once abounded in early Indian relics. With increased facilities for travel the place will have an increased summer population, having already many summer cottages, the inmates of which take their choice of river or lake. The
fishing there is good.
A new railroad is planned to cross the town from east to west, passing through the village of Cicero, but an effort has begun to have it intersect Syracuse instead. Should the original plan be adhered to it may have quite an effect upon the town.
Submitted 13 November 1998.
27 SHEPARD CEMETERY - Abandoned family cemetery east of Route 11 in Brewerton, NY - Submitted by Ruth Sweeting
Sources: From the files of Elet Milton at Brewerton, NY, Library. Elet Milton was a great historian for the town of Cicero, NY, who tried to preserve much information for the future generations interested in the town's history. He read the headstones of this cemetery in June 1937. The entrance had an iron gate with the date 1802 cast in it and the plot was surrounded by a stone wall and low chain fence. There was a large monument in the center of the plot with smaller headstones around the perimeter. At that time several stones were broken. All are now gone.
In the town of Cicero, the
Rev. John Shepard was the only veteran of the Revolutionary War to keep and settle on his bounty land, lot #11. He and his family came about 1800, and two years later he buried his son, Amzi, in the "Shepard Burial Ground."
Rev. Shepard was the minister of the Presbyterian Church in Cicero, which was the first church in the village.
Botsford, Elizabeth, 1781-1864, perhaps sister of Elnathan Botsford, Elnathan d. 20 March 1864, 84y
Botsford, Hannah S. 10 May 1820 - 10 Dec. 1821
Botsford, Sophia d. 5 Feb. 1864, 80y, w/o Elnathan
Hamilton, Lot 1781-1858
Hamilton, Nemia Finn 1789-1835 w/o Lot Hamilton
Orman, Helen L. d. 21 Feb. 1849, 4y d/o Orrice & Nancy Orman
Shepard, John, Rev., 25 May 1757 - 29 Jan. 1822, was a Capt. in the Rev. War
Shepard, Milicent M. (Edsall) d. 12 Nov. 1805, 50y w/o Rev. John.
Their children:
Amzi B. 1793-1802;
Daniel R. 1791-1840 m. Lydia Porter;
David E. 18 July 1789-16 Oct. 1845 m. M. A. Chapman; Hannah 1796-___;
Sarah I. (Sally?) 1786-1859 w/o Myron Stevens;
Sophia 1783-1864 w/o Elnathan Botsford;
William Finn 1791-1864
Shepard, Margaret A., 8 Apr. 1792 - 27 Feb. 1860 w/o David E. Children of
David E. and Margaret A. Shepard:
Calvin Y. 1834-1891;
Caroline 1816-___;
Elanor S. 1829-___;
Jesse C. 1821- 13 March 1822, 7m 13d;
Lucy 1813-1845;
Luther D. 1832-___;
John E. 1815-___;
Margaret A., 1819-1853;
Milicent M. 1827-___;
Sarah E. 1830-___;
Sophia L. 1823-___ m. A. A. Cushing;
Surdate S. 1825-1852 m. A. A. Cushing
Siver, Hannah S. d. 27 March 1847, 24-7-17, w/o David H. Siver
Smiley, James E. 29 Oct. 1829 - 5 Nov. 1836
Stevens, Cornelia A. d. 7 Apr. 1836, 14y 9 m, d/o Myron & Sally Stevens
Talcott, Lucy Tracy d. 13 July 1857, 98y
Other stones included: Hamilton, Martha; Hamilton, Rebecca; Loveland, Almira; Lynch, Polly
Submitted 11 January 1998
Resubmitted 13 June 1998
*****
Shepard CemeteryCicero, Albert Rd. and Sotherden Rd., - between 5829 Albert and 9576 Sotherden Rds., Brewerton.
Inactive Family Cemetery, TF: 1802, 1891
Contact: Mrs. Kenneth (Lona) Flynn
Town of Cicero Historian
573-1 West Seymour Street
Clay, NY 13041.
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